Level 0 Master

The day after the strategy meeting, Ereka was spending a fruitful day. She worked on the state affairs, trained herself to get ready for the battle, and she prepared meals and bedding for Sungjin.

What should I make Sungjin for dinner?

She told herself an excuse while wondering what would be the perfect dinner to please Sungjin.

The destiny of the kingdom relies on Sungjin's strategy.

Keeping him in his best condition was her way of showing gratitude on behalf of her kingdom, and not because… she just wanted him to like her.

She was talking to herself and again was about to burn her pot when a man approached her.

"Your Highness."

"What is it?"

She didn't know the servant, but she answered him with a kind smile.

"This is… from the Blood Ruler," said the servant. He handed her a Wind Spirit Stone that would send not only voice but also a video.

"The Blood Ruler? What is it about."

"I do not know, Your Highness. I just got the order to hand it to you."

"Okay. You can leave now."

Ereka looked at the Wind Spirit Stone with a drawn face.

I don't want to deal with it… but I can't lose this psychological war.

She activated the stone and the face of the Blood Ruler, Riad appeared.

"What do you want to talk about now?"

"I met your guy last time, so let's have a chat now."

"No, what we should do is wait for the battle to see one another."

"Hahaha. Don't you want to have a chat as sisters? I went to the Brin Mountain behind the castle."

"A chat as sisters? That was over when you ignored the rulership of the late king and sacrificed people for the magical sword."

"Really? I brought some entertainment for you. If you are not coming, I will enjoy it by myself."

"Entertainment...!"

The video zoomed out to show the area around Riad. There were 30 children tied up with ropes. They all looked to be seven or eight years old, and they were covered with scratches.

"What is this?"

"I told you, this is entertainment. I will play hide and seek. That's supposed to be a popular game among children."

"Hide and seek..."

Ereka's hair stood on end. The Blood Ruler wouldn't play such a children's game. She felt there was something terrifying coming.

"Okay, I will count to ten and then catch one and then count to ten to catch another. If you want to join, come over," said the Blood Ruler, pulling out her huge sword.

"Now run."

The sword swung to cut the ropes. Frozen with fear, the children couldn't move. The Blood Ruler showed a cruel smile and started to count to ten.

"Stop!" shouted Ereka.

Zing.

The Blood Ruler cut one of the children's head off, and blood spurted out. The huge sword pulled the blood in and absorbed it.

"Ahahah… waaaah!"

The children started crying and running in all directions.

"One, two..."

The Blood Ruler started counting again.

Bang!

With a loud sound, the kitchen door blew up. In a second the princess was in armor and ran at her maximum speed using her Heroic Power.

She had no time to tell the others. She didn't have time. She had to be there as soon as possible to save the children.

Ereka arrived at the peak of Brin Mountain. She unfortunately had to witness the bloody madness. A body without a head, a body cut in half, a body without arms and legs—all kinds of dead bodies were rolling around.

They were all children.

They never even had a chance to live a life.

They were too young to die.

If there was no evil and no violence, their lives were going to give hope and happiness to their families. They had endless possibilities.

Maybe they were meant to live a normal life, but this was not the way to end such lives.

Their faces with fear and pain showed how they were killed.

If only… I was able to make it… sooner...

Ereka grabbed her spear firmly. Her anger caused her Heroic Power to ruffle her blond hair.

"You are late. We're almost done."

Almost?

She looked around.

In the middle of this bloody madness, there was a child that was still alive. The tiny child was frozen with fear and was rolled up into a ball without moving.

At least this child.

It was too late, but she thought she could save this one. Ereka stood in front of the child and pointed her spear at the Blood Ruler.

"Ho. Will you finish up? Okay. As a sister, I will give it to you."

"Bullsh*t!" shouted Ereka in anger.

I need to take this child to the castle to save this child...

The good thing was, it was forbidden to have a fight outside of the battlefield between heroes. Even if the Blood Ruler was much stronger, she couldn't attack the princess.

"I was being generous, but it seems like I need to finish this."

The Blood Ruler's sword sliced the air.

"Blood Needle."

In the next moment, the blood from the dead bodies on the ground turned into hundreds of needles and shot up from the ground. They all looked like needles, but each one of them contained destructive spear power.

Ereka didn't hesitate; she protected the child with her whole body.

Tak tak tak.

Needles struck her body, but Ereka held the child even tighter.

"Wahh!"

The child finally snapped out of it and started crying. The child thought there was hope to be found.

"It's okay. I will protect you," Ereka promised. She started to run with the child in her arms.

"Hmph. Still so naive."

"I'm not listening."

When Ereka answered, the child suddenly seemed to be in pain.

"Ah… ahah..."

"What's wrong?"

Ereka couldn't understand because she blocked all the blood needles with her body.

"Bloody Bomb."

The next moment, the child held its c.h.e.s.t, and then the child exploded.

Pitter-patter.

A bloody storm covered Ereka, and her body became red with blood.

"Hahaha. The kid was already dead."

Riad's laughter echoed in Ereka's ears. Ereka's anger stopped her thinking.

Bam.

Heroic Power spread out from Ereka's body. The air swirled, and her blond hair shone like a lion's mane. The blood and stains from her body evaporated.

"I won't forgive you!"

Powered by the death cry of the child who died in a bloody death, the knight princess powered up.

Her spear went towards the Blood Ruler.

I can't forgive her. She broke down everything my father protected. I can't forgive this tyrant. She's killed too many people for her power and beauty. I can't condone this witch; she's killed mere children for her entertainment.

The Blood Ruler raised her arm to block the spear. The impact lasted a second, but the power dented the ground.

"Haha. Thank you for attacking me," said Riad, stepping back from her.

Oops.

Ereka realized her mistake.

A clash outside of the battlefield was not just a fight. Especially when the clash was caused by the head of an army.

"Now you declared your intention to attack, I accept this challenge and take this into the battlefield! It is a fight between two kings, I accept your challenge with everything of my kingdom!"

The shout of Riad became letters in the air and blew away into the sky.

"Hahaha..."

Ereka started to shake her hands.

She just declared war by her actions. On the next battle day, she had to head to the battlefield. If not, that would be a defeat by not showing up. Sungjin told her they had to be on the defensive, but she just ruined it.

"Hahaha. That is why you are naive," said Riad cruelly, but Ereka couldn't answer her.

It was a clear trap, and she couldn't control her anger.

Ahah...

In this world, saying that all this was to save a child would be ridiculed as an excuse.

The Blood Ruler didn't initiate the attack. The lives of the extras were in the Blood Ruler's hand. She just did what she wanted to do to her objects, and Ereka interrupted her, and then attacked her.

That was a declaration of war.

Ahh… ahahah...

She had to stop the tyranny of the Blood Ruler. She had to save the poor child.

But that was just her wish. She had no way to make it a reality while failing to control her anger. That was not the proper act of a ruler.

And now… today's massacre will… spread all around this kingdom.

It was her wrongdoing that caused the massacre. It was her incompetence that didn't save the children from dying in front of her. Maybe… that could be forgiven… considered to be the limit of a human.

But… Ereka was about to kill more people with her mistake.

"To celebrate the final battle between sisters, I will give you a great present!" the Blood Ruler shouted and held her magical sword up in the air.

Ereka couldn't hear the name of the sword. Riad's blood power had already become a torrent of Heroic Power and hit her eardrum.

Ereka saw endless despair. Every single thread of blood power contained power as violent as a flood that swept up everything around it.

The ground split under the blood torrent. A rock split into two and dropped into the crack in the ground.

A cliff broke down, and the ground changed its shape. This was a human-caused avalanche. There were no traces of any trees, and there was nothing that could stand in the way of the rushing, bloody torrents.

That was an absolute power that refused any resistance.

The awakened Blood Ruler who sacrificed everyone was now fear itself. It was not a surprise that the three knights were felled in one blow.

One level 6 knight alone was like a military unit. But this torrent was something that could sweep a few units away. It was a natural, no "human-made" disaster.

After the torrent was gone, the peak that was there had disappeared, and there was a deep crater instead.

Ereka couldn't stand on her feet; she lost her power to stand.

This is the ultimate skill of the Blood Ruler.

She felt that this was impossible. This wouldn't be a winning battle. Even if it was a defensive battle, they had no chance.

It was impossible, even for Sungjin.

"Suffer more with despair until the battle day," Riad cursed her.

Hmph. This equals my victory.

It was survival of the fittest. Sungjin or Ereka who wanted to save the weak had no chance in front of her. The Blood Ruler realized this a while ago when she was kidnapped as a child.

The wizard who kidnapped her and the other kids to awaken the magical sword locked them all in a dungeon. The wizard gave less and less food from the ceiling to make them fight to kill each other to survive.

But until then, she believed in her father, who said that the strong had to use their strength to protect the weak. She believed it even more when the oldest and the strongest, Aska said to not be fooled by the wizard and to fight together.

But even after they swore, kids started ending up dead during the nights where there was less food. They tried to find the killer, but she didn't realize one cruel fact—Aska was the killer.

She realized this only when he tried to kill her one night.

He was acting because he thought that if he showed his true colors, the weak would team up to fight him.

Death was the only end for the weak. "The strong vs. the weak" was just a myth. In reality, we all had to kill each other to survive.

Once she realized this truth, her power was awakened.

It was easy after killing Aska. The fact that the more she killed, the stronger she became convinced her.

The day after she killed everyone, the wizard opened the dungeon door. The wizard said the ritual of solitude was completed and tried to unseal the magical sword, but that was a mistake.

She had already become stronger than the wizard.

When she killed the wizard, for her, it was neither out of anger nor revenge. She was used by him because she was weak, and now that she was stronger, she killed the wizard and took the magical sword. That was it.

The wizard was sacrificed, and the magical sword was unsealed. The magical sword accepted her as its master with a condition that she keep sacrificing the weak and become stronger. That was what she wanted anyway.

That was the birth of the Blood Ruler.

For the pact that I made with the magical sword, I will keep winning and keep plundering and become stronger. I will sacrifice everyone until I step on top of the world.

Little Sister is just a stepping stone on the way.

In the middle of the ruins, Ereka couldn't move or stand up because of the Blood Ruler's curse, and despair ran over her.

I… I am sorry… everyone...

She couldn't protect anyone from this.

* * *

Chapter 12

Rittier and Jenna ran towards to Ereka who stood in the middle of the ruins.

"Your Highness! What is going on?"

"I am… sorry."

Ereka's head drooped.

"Princess, what happened?"

"Jenna…"

Ereka held Jenna, not finding the words to speak.

The heavy smell of blood from the ruins and Ereka being in pain told them that this was not a simple matter.

Then Sungjin arrived.

"These bloody ruins… That smell..."

At a glance, they found a shoe soaked in blood with a foot still attached to it. Once they found one, they were able to see what happened.

One-fourth of a face.

An arm without any fingers.

The horrible scene reflected the tragedy that had happened.

"Wah… wah…!"

Jenna fell down and cried.

"What are these… this… the pain… the poor… this is terrifying..."

"Urg." Sungjin nearly threw up.

He took being cold and calm as his motto, but he was still a high school student. He was shocked by such a terrifying scene.

He didn't break down because there was something bigger than the shock—the anger.

"What happened?"

"Sungjin… I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing and tell me what happened. I need to know what happened to plan for how to deal with this."

But Sungjin already knew what happened. That was why his anger kept burning.

There were traces of this being a massacre.

"Okay..."

Ereka told everything to Sungjin.

The Blood Ruler Riad took some children as hostages to provoke her, and she made a mistake and reacted just as the Blood Ruler planned.

Rittier's face stiffened as he listened to her story.

"Your Highness… That was a mistake."

"Yes."

"That was a huge mistake..."

Rittier looked into the sky and g.r.o.a.n.e.d.

"Yes. I understand."

"Sungjin's strategy was the only way to win. It would only be possible if we were on the defensive against the Blood Ruler's awakened power."

"Yes. I knew… but I forgot for a second."

"You should have ignored her in the first place. You know that if you are played by a hostage show, the opponent will use that weakness against you."

"Yes. It's all my fault."

Ereka couldn't look into Rittier's blaming eyes.

She didn't have any words to say.

"Princess."

Jenna called to her with a regretful voice, but she couldn't find any words to defend her. Even young Jenna understood how serious this situation was.

"Your… I understand you cherish the lives of the extras as well, but you can't save everyone. If you try to achieve the impossible, that will result in a bigger disaster that will kill everyone else. I've told you so many times."

"Yes… you are right… you told me… I kept that in mind but..."

Ereka understood the magnitude of her mistake.

Killing children was not an acceptable act, but it was impossible to stop all injustice. It was stupid to kill a hundred just to save one.

Now the Blood Ruler will take over this kingdom and abuse everyone under her tyranny. No, not just this kingdom. She would use this as a stepping stone to conquer more.

Sungjin promised to make them win in a defensive battle, but she lost control of the moment and ruined everything

A ruler had to be cold when necessary. A ruler needed the best judgment to know what was the best.

Sungjin stepped in.

"That's enough."

"But Sir Sungjin. Now your strategy has become useless."

"I know. You are right, and it was clear that the princess made a mistake."

Ereka started to have tears in her eyes while looking at Sungjin.

"Sungjin, be angry. I don't want you to take my mistake lightly."

"If you know that yourself, then that's enough. And moreover..."

Sungjin picked up a bloody shoe from the ground.

There was a tiny foot with its leg cut off.

The bloody red shoe used to be a cute yellow one with little chicks printed on it.